Even more…Luis Pujols will be the manager for the rest of the year.
More Tiger Moves (reported on team1270):
-Oscar Salazaar was called up from Toledo and Nate Cornejo was sent down. Don’t read anything into this, it’s just that Cornejo’s turn in the rotation wasn’t coming up for awhile due to off days
-The Tigers have fired third base coach Doug Mansolino and Dan Warthen. The join Ed Ott as assistant coaches who have been fired. Steve McCatty and Jeff Jones have been hired to replace them.
From ESPN.com – Chat with Chris Kahrl
Brian: Can the Tigers win a game?
Chris Kahrl: I like theoretical questions.
Chris Kahrl: I like theoretical questions.
“It won
Mike Bauman (mlb.com): Garner played his hand
At the end of the day, those of us who want to defend Phil Garner as a manager are short on conventional arguments, seeing that the one winning season is now a decade old. But we plead mitigating circumstances. It was not his fault that he was asked to manage nine straight losing teams.
Smith was in his 10th year as the Tigers
The Firing-Special Section
It’s awfully hard to argue that either Phil Garner or Randy Smith deserved to keep his job…Replacing Smith wasn’t at all difficult — Dombrowski chose himself, to no one’s surprise — but it’s a lot easier to find a manager in the winter than the spring. But ESPN’s loss could be Dave Dombrowski’s gain; yes, Buck Showalter is both available and eager, and the Tigers could do a lot worse.
Felipe Alou, fired last year as Montreal’s manager, was considered a top candidate to wind up with the Tigers’ job.
“I’m interested in managing,” Alou said from his home. He would not say whether he had been contacted by Detroit officials.
“I’m interested in managing,” Alou said from his home. He would not say whether he had been contacted by Detroit officials.
So now we get a few days into the season, when the foundation of the Tigers’ 2002 season already has been laid, and now the Tigers pull the trigger? The timing of these moves is purely public relations damage control, a premature strike to placate already-disgusted fans before the disgust deepens even more. ..The problem is that, since Ilitch purchased the team in 1992, there hasn’t been a plan. The owner has treated the Tigers like an afterthought to his far more important stewardship of the NHL’s Red Wings.
Billfer (me):
Unless Luis Pujols does a phenomenal job with this team, he won’t remain the coach. The names already being mentioned are Buck Showalter, Felipe Alou, Jim Leyland …While some of those may be decent managerial candidates (except for Leyland, please no Leyland), this whole thing is as much a PR move as it is anything else. If the Tigers can get permission from San Diego, they will pursue Alan Trammell.
Cleveland 5, Detroit 1
Well, at least they didn’t get no hit today by Sabathia. However at this rate it is inevitable. When the top of your order is batting .208, .042, .200, and .182 you aren’t going to scare a lot of people. Andres Torres made his major league debut and tripled in a run for the Tigers only RBI. In the field he misplayed a ball into a double.
From the “I better win now, the future be damned” department, Phil Garner let a young pitcher throw 120 pitches for the second game in a row. What makes this even dumber, is that the Tigers weren’t hanging on to a close lead. Both games they were trailing. So how many games do the Tigers have to lose in April to get this guy fired?
Roster Moves:
-Palmer comes of the DL
-Damian Jackson goes on the 15 day disabled list (finger)
-Easley pulled something, and it looks like Macias may move to 2nd and Andres Torres may be called up to roam centerfield.
-UPDATE: Andres Torres was called up to replace Danny Patterson (15 day DL) on the roster